An international medical society (name withheld at the client's request)
A lapsed member is the one member an association has already lost. The reminder went out, the date passed, nothing happened. This society had 478 of them. In its first seven weeks on PropFuel, 42 came back, worth $18,438, and the first thing the society asked them was not for money. PropFuel suggested a different starting point: what if most of the people on a lapsed list don't know they've lapsed? And for those who do, why not ask them why?
- Association Type: International medical society.
- About the Organization: A specialty medical society run by a small staff team on its own association management system.
The Challenge
A lapsed list looks like one problem and is really several. Some members left on purpose. Some retired. Some lost a budget. Some never decided at all. One renewal reminder sent to everyone is not right for anyone. People need communication that fits their situation.
The specific gap was that the society could see 478 lapsed contacts and not one reason behind them. Without a reason, there's no way to tell a member who chose to leave from a member whose renewal quietly failed because their credit card expired.
The Solution
The society was a new PropFuel client, and this was the first campaign it ever ran. The campaign went to those 478 contacts. The PropFuel method is Ask, Capture, Act, and the opening move is the part worth copying: the first check-in does not ask anyone to rejoin. It asks, "Are you aware your membership has expired?"
Answering costs the member nothing. If they answer yes, a follow-up asks: "Why have you let your membership expire? Is there anything we can do to assist you?" Every answer gets captured, like "I'm retiring," "my employer won't pay for it this year," or "I'm just too busy to stay engaged."
With those answers, the society knows what each lapsed member needs to come back.
The Results
Figures cover the campaign's first seven weeks.
- ✅ 42 lapsed members rejoined, worth $18,438 in dues – counted by the society's dues conversion list, not estimated.
- ✅ One campaign paid for PropFuel and more – in its first seven weeks, it recovered more than the society pays for PropFuel in a year.
- ✅ 72% of the 54 people who answered the first question said no, they did not know their membership had expired – for these members, a simple, easy-to-answer email is what opened the door to renewing.
- ✅ 478 contacts and a 23% engagement rate – modest, and expected for a lapsed audience. What it recovered matters more than how loudly it landed.
- ✅ 1,803 emails sent, 98% delivered, 58% opened – a clean list, not the stale one everyone assumes a lapsed list to be.
"I think 14 conversions is a lot more than we would have gotten if we just sent our regular emails," said the society's marketing lead, a few weeks in, with the campaign still running and the count still climbing.
Why It Worked
- The first touch did not ask for money. It asked something a member could answer without deciding anything. The rejoin ask comes later, once the team can tailor the appeal to each member.
- Not knowing is the normal case. Across PropFuel's client base, more than half of the members who answer that question say they had no idea. A lapsed list is often smaller than it looks.
- Every answer had a next step. Each answer pointed lapsed members to the care they needed, either straight to the renewal page or to a real person who could make the appeal.
It worked on the first try. Nothing here needed a year of tuning. The payback landed on the first campaign, within weeks.
The money is net new. None of the $18,438 was going to arrive on its own..
What's Ahead
The society is planning an event campaign for its next major meeting, asking members whether they plan to attend and what has held them back. A separate campaign will go to members who lapsed a year or more ago.
Ready to hear what your members are telling you? Schedule a call with our team.